Sins of My Father
by T. Alana M
Summary: After a drunken night that she can't remember, Maddie gives birth to a boy with grey hair and dark blue eyes. Danny. Another take on Vlad is Danny's father. AU. Vlad/Danny/Danni. Father/son/daughter HIATUS
1. Who would be a father!

_**The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children -Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice**_

* * *

This was a hotel room. A freaking hotel room with an emperor sized bed and three people.

I was panicking, nearly hyperventilating as I held the sheets to my chest. What had happened last night? Had I...? I looked around the room, noticing that I was the only one awake. Assured that no one would see me freak out, I grabbed fistfuls of my hair in distress. What had _happened_?

Calm down, Maddie. There must be a logical explanation for this. Just retrace your steps. Today was- I glanced at the calender- March 12. Jazz had turned two yesterday. I closed my eyes and tried to remember.

* * *

_I was so proud of my little girl. True, she technically hadn't done anything beyond survive another year, but the sight of her spinning in that little blue dress as she blew out the candles made my heart swell with pride. We threw a party. Little Jazz already had lots of friends; apparently she was popular at the daycare center. It was fun, in a kiddy sort of way. Balloons of all colors filled the large living room, their strings hanging just out of reach from the lively toddlers below. Said toddlers ran around tripping people, living up to their names as ankle-biters. It was funny, I admitted, seeing Jack flail around for the umpteenth time as a small boy ran between his legs and blew him a raspberry._

_I walked up to my husband, steadying him with a hand on his arm. "Having fun, Jack?"_

_He laughed. "You betcha, baby! The little tykes love me!"_

_They certainly loved pranking him, but I kept the thought to myself. "I can't believe our little Jazz is turning two. It feels like just yesterday I was taking her home from the hospital..."_

_Jack's eyes lit up. "Speaking of hospitals- We're going to Vladdie's party later, aren't we?"_

_My smile dropped, reluctance filling my features. I really didn't want to. Vlad Masters was hosting a party celebrating the anniversary of his release from the hospital. It wasn't like I didn't feel guilty about that; it was our invention that had landed him there in the first place. But Vlad, although a great friend once upon a time, had always had an obsession with me. It had bordered on 'creepy' back in our college days, even after I had told him I had no romantic feelings for him whatsoever. I'm not sure how much of his feelings remained after the accident, but he probably wouldn't react too well to seeing Jack and I together._

_"Do we have to go, Jack?" I hedged. "I don't want to leave Jasmine alone, especially on her birthday."_

_"Nonsense! We can leave her here for the night! I'll ask the Mansons."_

_As Jack lumbered away, I sighed in defeat. 'Here' was technically the Mansons' (who were old family friends)home, since our own Fenton Works building was too small to host all of Jazz's little friends. I should have known that that would come with a catch, namely being unable to use her as an excuse to avoid seeing Vlad. I knew that I couldn't outright tell Jack about my concerns. He'd probably just wave it off with a laugh. Vlad was his best friend, wasn't he? There was no way that the billionaire would look bad in Jack's eyes, I noted sourly._

_Jack hadn't been suspicious when millionaires from around the world had suddenly donated substansial amounts of money to MasterCorps, turning him into a billionaire in less than a year. The situation had seemed incredibly fishy to me, but I had no actual proof that he was doing anything wrong._

_My husband bounded back in his usual cheerful way, announcing that the Manson couple had agreed to let Jazz stay over. I groaned internally, resigning myself to my fate._

* * *

So I had gone to Vlad's party with Jack. The details were hazy; a doorman taking out coats, entering the lavish hotel, then the bar...

The celebration, as I remembered it, was more of a college reunion than a hospital release celebration. All my old friends had been there, drinking merrily, sharing old college tales. They looked the same, albeit a few years older. It was like being back at a college disco again.

* * *

_"Ah, Jack. You're here." The silver-haired man __who stood to greet us was not the friend I remembered. In place of lab coats and spiked grey hair, he was now in an expensive suit and his slicked-back hair had all but turned white. His eyes, which I remembered as a dark, curious blue, were now home to something darker lurking beneath indigo irises. He didn't look particularly happy as Jack wrapped him in a hug. I wondered if he blamed us for his accident. Guilt welled up in me. I suppose we ought to have at least visited in those seven years that he was hospitalized..._

_Then his eyes turned to me and he broke into a large grin. "Maddie! Lovely as ever, I see." he greeted me with much more enthusiasm than he had Jack. With no small amount of annoyance, I realized that his infatuation with me was still there._

_"Vlad," I greeted amicably, reaching out to shake his hand._

_"Come, come. What's a party without drinks, eh?" He steered us to the bar._

_The bartender plopped down three shots of vodka in front of us._

* * *

The drinks-had they been spiked? No, I would have recognized the taste of sedative. My memories continued beyond that point.

A groan came from the bulge of blankets to my right. I darted a glance down to see a head emerging from the covers.

Muffled curses came from my left and the man sat up, stretching.

Both men saw me and froze.

"Oh. Shit." That was Vlad.

* * *

_Through the haze of alcohol, I admitted that this wasn't so bad. I needed to loosen up every once in a while. I loved my family to death, but sometimes it was a bit too much to deal with Jack's naivete and a lively toddler._

_I noticed Vlad watching me over the rim of his glass, and I glared right back, a challenge in my gaze. Challenging him to what, I didn't know._

_A moment later my question was answered when he raised his gin and drained it in one gulp. I narrowed my eyes. So that was what it was going to be? Fine then._ _I wouldn't lose._

* * *

Jack had joined in at some point, turning it into a three-way drinking contest. My memories were fudged after that, which did _not _explain why I woke up naked in bed with my husband and his best friend.

We stared at each other for a moment longer, frozen in horror by the thought of what had most likely transpired.

Vlad broke the silence, clearing his throat awkwardly. "We should probably get dressed."

I scrambled for my clothes, which were strewn across the floor. Pulling them on hastily, I risked a glance at the two men to see that they were doing the same.

Half an hour later, we were all dressed and studiously avoiding each others gazes.

"So." Jack said. "Uh, what happened?"

"What do you _think _happened, you dolt?" Vlad barked. "The three of us woke up naked, in bed, _in a hotel room _after ingesting copious amounts of alcohol. There is only one likely explanation, and while I do not mind Maddie, to have _you _here-" he cut himself off, rubbing a hand over his face. "I apologize. This is a distressing turn of events."

We lapsed back into silence.

* * *

The baby named Daniel Fenton was born exactly nine months later. By then, I had successfully buried the memory of that night in the back of my mind.

It was a hard birth. The umbilical cord had wrapped around Danny's neck when he was born, suffocating him. According to the doctors, they had almost lost him. (I had also heard that they were unsuccessful in cutting the umbilical cord, but when asked, they denied this fact.) That didn't matter now, though. Because my son was healthy and very much alive.

I looked down at the bundle in my arms lovingly, my husband beside me. He didn't have hair yet, he was also small and red, but to me, he was one of the most beautiful babies in the world.

Little Danny opened his eyes. I choked back a horrified gasp.

They were neither my violet nor Jack's baby blue. They were indigo.

* * *

**Dun Dun Dunnnn. And Danny officially becomes heir to Fruitloop Empire! R&R please. Reviewers get a baby Danny!  
**


	2. Doubt truth to be a liar

**In which Jack gets a bit smarter.**

* * *

**_It is a wise father that knows his child -Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice_**

* * *

Vlad wasn't supposed to find out. He was never supposed to know that Danny was his son, and not mine. That was what Maddie wanted. But Vladdie had always been a smart one, hadn't he?

Six months after Danny's birth, he visited us. He was suspicious then, but didn't say anything. All he had asked was why there was a ghost shield around the crib. I tried to give him the excuse I'd given Maddie- that Amity Park was haunted so it was better to keep him safe-but I could see that Vlad hadn't bought it. Still, he hadn't questioned me further, not yet.

I often wondered what would have happened if he had. Perhaps he would have killed me and taken Danny away right then.

The real reason I put up that ghost shield wasn't the one I told my wife - it was because of what that nurse had said at the hospital.

* * *

_A nurse walked up to me nervously. Her eyes darted from left to right and her uniform skirt was wrinkled in her clenched fists._

_"A-are you Mr Fenton?" she stuttered. "There might be a slight problem." I took in her ragged appearance and assumed the worst._

_"Which one?"_ _I demanded. The girl looked confused for a moment, before comprehension dawned._

_"Oh, it's not like that- I didn't mean- They're both fine, Mr. Fenton!"_

_I sagged in relief. _

_"It's just..." she twisted her uniform in her hands. "I heard that you were a ghost hunter."_

_I nearly groaned. It was always nice to have a fan, but this was not the time for that. "I am. What of_ _it?"_

_"I've always believed in the supernatural, and..." She took a deep breath. "When your son was born, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck. We couldn't cut it without hurting him-so we were at a loss. Just when he started to turn blue, the weirdest thing happened. His neck passed through the cord-like it wasn't even there. I-I thought that it might be a ghost, turning him intangible-but none of the others believe me."_

_Terror coursed through me. Was there a ghost in the birthing room? Was it after my newborn son already? And Maddie! She wouldn't be in any condition to defend herself! "Can I see them?_

_The nurse looked startled. "Yes, of course. Ah, I was supposed to tell you that in the first place. I'm sorry, I got carried away-"_

_I was already running to Maddie's room._

* * *

Unfortunately, it hadn't stopped there. Strange things happened around Danny. He dropped things a lot, he always managed to escape from his crib, and one time when I left him to get a quick snack, I returned to find his new teddy bear in ashes and Danny bawling his eyes out. I've never told Maddie about that last incident. Sometimes I think I should have. But another part of me knows that it wouldn't have made a difference.

Because Vlad found out.

* * *

_"Jack, why do you have a ghost shield in your son's nursery?" Vlad looked somewhere between puzzled, angry, and worried. I didn't understand any of that, but I was too concerned by coming up with an answer to think about it too much._

_"Well, you know how it is in Amity Park," I replied. "Ghosts everywhere! As qualified ghost hunters, Maddie and me want to make sure that Danny's safe."_

_Vlad looked at me oddly. "When have there ever been any ghost sightings in Amity Park?"_

_"Eh?" It was a stupid reply, and now my friend definitely knew something was up. But I couldn't stop turning his words over in my head. When _have _there been any ghosts here? Our sensors always picked up a strain of ghost activity in the area, but we've never seen one, come to think of it._ _The sensors kept going off...whenever they were around Danny._

_He narrowed his eyes. I felt my heart thumping erratically against my ribcage. If he knew something was up-if he knew Danny was his son- _

_But all he said was, "Be careful, alright?"_

* * *

It hadn't occurred to me until later that there was no way Vlad could have known from that conversation alone. He might have suspected I was lying about _something_, though not about Danny's parentage.

After he'd left, I called him to ask what he'd meant with that last statement. He told me to make sure that the technology I was using around Danny was no longer in an experimental phase and that under no circumstances was I to build a ghost portal any place where Danny or Jazz could reach it.

Now that I look back on it, I should have questioned him further. Asked him why he was so worried about ghost portals.

But I didn't. Because I didn't know anything then... Not until Danny's second birthday.

* * *

_Maddie was anxious. Oh, she smiled and laughed and put on a show, but after years of knowing her I could see the little tics. The slight twitch in her jaw, the way her hand continuously strayed to her shoulder holster where her ectogun __would be. Maddie was nervous, and I knew it._

_"Couldn't we have brought at least one weapon?" she snapped after the thirteenth time her hand reached for a gun that wasn't __there._

_"It was your idea not to," I reminded her_. _"You said that Danny needs a-"_

_"-a normal, ghost-free environment for his birthday." Maddie recited. "And he does! __It isn't good for a little boy to spend that much time ar__ound spectral activity! It's just that I wish _we _could protect him from them."_

_I refrained from mentioning that that was her idea too._ _"I'm sure he'll be fine." I consoled, inconspicuously hiding my own ectogun. My wife may want a weapon _now, _but I learned my lesson after she changed her mind the last three times and confiscated the ones I'd brought._

_"Give it back!"_

_I looked to my son, frowning at the sight before me. One of the children, a blond named Dash Baxter if I'm not mistaken, had taken Danny's_ _present (the blue box from Jazz.) He was holding it out of Danny's reach.__ Maddie moved towards them, but I grabbed her arm. She looked at me questioningly and I shook my head. Even if he was young, a man should still fight his own battles._

_As I watched them, I started to realize that something wasn't right. Danny was getting angry, but it looked as though he was growing paler instead of an angry red- he was almost _glowing _white. Then he opened his mouth and screamed, shattering every glass surface in the room._

_At the same moment, a trio of vulture ghost_s s_wooped in, destroying everything in sight. I shouted, pulling out my ectogun and starting to aim, but before I could fire, Maddie grabbed the gun from me and fired two shots that hit spot-on. __I relinquished my hold, figuring that my wife was a better shot than I was anyway. I searched for the kids, hoping to shelter them from falling debris._

_I quickly found them huddled together in the corner, Jazz doing her best to shie__ld the smaller boy_._ Danny was sobbing, his sister trying desperately to comfort him despite the tears tracking down her own cheeks. I glanced behind me, seeing that Maddie was keeping two of the vultures busy. I felt a proud of my wife. Only she could be that amazing, that good..._

_"LET HIM GO!"_

_I remembered that there were THREE vultures. Whipping my head around to the children, I nearly felt my heart stop. Jazz was holding on to Danny's ankles, sobbing hysterically, while Danny... Danny was dangling in the claws of the last vulture._

_Cursing myself for being so careless, I doubled my speed. No ghost was going to harm my children!_

_Then it happened._

_I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't been desperately watching the events. Danny twisted in the vulture's grip, angling his face upwards to look it in the eye_. _In that moment__ his fear was gone, replaced by pure unad__ulterated rage.__Almost in slow motion, I saw his hand form a pudgy fist, racing to the vulture's beak. A __split second before it impacted, a bright glow of ectoplasm surrounded him, concentrating on his hand. His eyes flashed toxic green._

_Then POW! the specter was down. It sailed over my head, crashing into its two comrades (who were already hanging by a thread of ectogoo! That's my Maddie!)._

_Although it had just been defeated, the ghost looked strangely satisfied. It grinned feral smile. "We got what the boss wanted-let's go."_

_Before Maddie or I could do anything, the specters had vanished._

_Maddie started fussing about the children, but I was hardly paying attention. My eyes were locked on the sobbing boy who was not my son, wondering just what on earth was wrong with him._

* * *

I couldn't forget that day, nor could I figure it out. It hung around in my mind for the longest time, turning over solutions and answers that never fit quite right.

The questions started with Danny's scream. Maddie had assumed that the ghosts had broken the glass, but I'd been watching him. Glass exploded inwards _before _the specters had arrived, right after Danny had yelled at the Baxter boy.

It was an unsolvable puzzle, so I left it as it was and turned to the next problem.

Danny's attack on the vulture. It's possible that I'd imagined the whole thing. Danny could have looked like he was glowing because he was so near to the ghost's ectoplasmic radiation. But that didn't explain why the specter was knocked backwards.

For many a night, I resisted the urge to punch my pillows in frustration of unanswered questions, knowing it would wake my slumbering wife. I hadn't told Maddie any of this. I should have, but I didn't.

The true reason, I suppose, was that I was afraid. Afraid that Maddie would get mad at me, that she would defend the boy...and make me hate him.

I loved Danny, maybe not as much as my wife did, but I loved him, truly. But he wasn't _my _son, and there was always some part of me, no matter how small, that hated him for existing. If Maddie took his side, as I knew she would, that hatred could bubble to the surface, and I didn't want that. _God,_ I didn't want to hate the boy.

Perhaps I should have sucked it up and told her then. If I had, things would be different. I wouldn't have to lie to her about her son, and I wouldn't have to lie to her about his father.

A few weeks after Danny's disasterous birthday, Vlad came to me with knowledge that I knew wouldn't be able to escape him forever.

* * *

_"Jack, is Daniel my_ _son?"_ _Dark blue eyes bore into me, glaring at me with accusation._

_I sucked in a breath. Straight to the point, huh? That was Vladdie, alright. Still, I played dumb for Maddie's sake. "What do you mean, V-man?"_

_"__Jack." My old college friend's expression morphed into one I was all too familiar with. It was the face that __he wore when he wanted something out of someone, and wouldn't stop until he got it._

_It wasn't very long before __I was fessing up._

_"It's true, Vladdie." I said, not meeting his eyes. "But Maddie and I have decided to raise him-keep him as our own."_

_"That isn't your decision to make."_

_"It's Maddie's decision," I met his steely eyes unwaveringly._

* * *

What followed next was a blur of lawsuits, courts, and lawyers. I knew we would lose. Vlad had the best people in the business, the best words to use to sway the judge, the best weapons of choice he needed to win.

But there was one thing Vlad didn't have, and that was Maddie's consent to give Danny up.

Other people in his position would have thought that they'd be able to wear her down, but Vlad knew Maddie's stubborn spirit almost as well as I did. So he used a different strategy. He used me.

On the day before we were called to court, my best friend told me a secret that I never wanted to hear.

* * *

_"I need to speak with you, Jack."_

_What choice did I have? So I followed the man out the door, patting my wife's shoulder as I passed. I tried to ignore the glare she was sending Vlad's way, which suggested that she very much wanted to kill him._

_When had our friendship become such a mess? I tried to catch Vlad's eye as he lead us to wherever, but he kept staying ahead of me, refusing to even glance my way. _

_Once we'd reached our destination, Vlad finally turned to me. I was taken aback by the look in his eyes-it was pure anger and hatred. _

_"What I am about to tell you must be held in the strictest confidence," he said. His voice was flat, like this was just another business meeting. But the fire in his eyes betrayed him. "The only reason I'm telling you is because you're the only one who can convince Maddie_ t_o give up Daniel."_

_I remained quiet, and he aimed his gaze upwards, looking thoughtful. After a short period of silence_, _he said almost casually, "I know what happened on Daniel's birthday."_

_I looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"_

_"Don't play dumb, Jack." he said irritably, the first signs of frustration showing in his voice. "You saw something, didn't you? Daniel did something, something abnormal, and you've been turning it around in that pea-sized brain of yours trying to figure out _how _he did it."_

_The look on my face __was answer enough. He nodded._ _"His...powers, you may call them, are hereditary."_ _Then he raised his hand, palm up, and held it to my eye-level. Even as I watched, a collection of energy formed a concentrated __ball of substance in his hand that was all-too-familiar. I stared at the ectoplasm, red reflecting off Vlad's irises._

_"That's ectoplasm...But how... Vladimir, you..." My tongue felt dry in my mouth as I looked at my best friend._ _Ice shot down my veins, __freezing me to the spot. Immediately I could see what I had been trying desperately to ignore; the odd little happenings in Danny's life, the acid green glow in his eyes whenever he got angry, the __way the ghost sensors came on whenever he was near._

_I was suddenly oh so close to_ _the truth, but I clung to my denial. "That's impossible," I shook my head. "You and Danny are both human. This-this is just a hallucination. I'll wake up any moment now."_

_Vlad smiled wryly. "I'm afraid not, Jack. This is all very much real."_

_"But...how?" I croaked in a hoarse whisper._

_"How?" Vlad was suddenly angry. He hurled the ectoplasm blast at me, missing my head by an inch. "How, you ask? You were the one that turned me into this, Jack! Try to remember- what happened on that day we built the portal?"_

_I looked at the burn mark the blast had left, recounting__ my steps leading up to the accident. Maddie and I were standing next to each other, bent over the filter. She asked me to grab the ecto-purifier, and I did, pouring it into the tube... Except it wasn't ecto-purifier. I realized my mistake too late when I turned the can over, confirming that it wasn't a titanium can, but some form of soda._ _I looked up just as __Vlad was leaning down to look at the portal._

_I turned to my friend in horror, wrenched out of my memories by the horrible realization. "No._"

_Vlad met my gaze steadily, simmering hatred burning beneath blue irises._ _"On the day of the accident, I began to change. I could form ectoplasm out of thin air. I could fly. I could do things you couldn't even dream of."_

_I shook my head, transfixed on his words in morbid curiosity. I didn't want him to say more, but at the same time I wanted to know._

_"On the day of the accident," he repeated. "I gained ghost powers. All thanks to you."_

_It_ _somehow__ didn't occur to me until that moment. To gain ghost powers, one would have to be... Suddenly, I didn't want to hear __what Vlad would say next._

_"On that day, you killed me, Jack." _

_I stared at him, thunderstruck._

_He looked at me icily. "Cat got your tongue?"_

_I wanted to say a lot of things. 'I'm sorry', for instance. But how could you apologize for murder? _

_I managed to form one word. "Danny..."_

_"Daniel, it seems, has inherited a part of my ghostly abilities. You and Maddie, with your weapons meant to _kill _ghosts, are incapable of raising him." Vlad's eyes softened. "__I can help him, Jack. I can help him control his powers, so he doesn't harm himself. Or anyone else. As much as I love Maddie, she can't care for him. It has to be me."_

_Against my better judgement, I found myself nodding._ _Vlad grasped my hand and shook it._

_"Oh, and make sure no one hears of this," __He smiled, bitterly and humorlessly. "For old time's sake."_

* * *

**Eh.. R&R? :D**

W**hat do you guys think should happen next? Should Vlad gain custody and raise him or should Maddie and Jack keep him? I've created a poll, so please vote quickly!  
**

**Reviewers get a birthday present from Jazz!**


	3. Thou art deceived

**Short one. The same thing from Maddie's POV, plus a bit extra. :P. The who-gets-custody matter won't be settled until the polls (on my profile page) are closed. So far, there is only two votes. :( . So please vote, guys! Or Danny could end up in a broken home! Polls close on Thursday.**

* * *

**_To have what we would have -Shakespeare, Measure for Measure_**

* * *

As Danny grew, he began to look more and more like the man who had fathered him. When his hair began to grow in, thick and shiny, I realized that it was the darkest shade of grey. But not quite Jack's midnight black. It was more like Vlad's had been when we were younger. Danny's eyes were dark blue and sharp, focused. He watched me sometimes, and when he did I couldn't help but feel like someone else was looking at me. Someone with older eyes and whiter hair.

His manners and personality were formed based on what we had taught him. A person's attitude can not be passed on through blood, but through gentle guidance and coaching. But there were sometimes when he hid things from me-be it as simple as eating a cookie before dinner-that I saw this sly, secretive look in his eyes that I had never seen in anyone else but Vlad. Vlad, with his many, many secrets and lies.

I knew that he would eventually find out about Danny, and I was prepared to fight tooth and nail to keep my son. What I didn't know was that he would confront Jack first and not me.

I had been so distracted with taking care of the kids after the ghost attack that I'd not noticed that Vlad was different that day. The man came by often, seemingly curious about Danny. I worried at first, but after two years it was clear that he didn't know about my boy's actual parentage. That day was no different. He dropped by under the guise of concern with our well being, having apparently heard of the attack. I was so preoccupied trying to calm Jazz down after another nightmare that I didn't pay any attention to Jack saying he was going outside to talk to Vlad.

That fact alone should have tipped me off immediately. Vlad never willingly spent time with Jack. It was always me or Danny.

When Jack came home that night, he said two words that made my heart stop. _"Vlad knows."_

Court is a messy thing. It is more propaganda, a grand show, than actual justice. Judges enjoy waving around their gavels and squabbling amongst themselves, which is why it typically takes years for a case to be closed.

I thought that this would buy me time to spend with my son, make him so attached to me that he didn't _want _to go with 'Daddy Vlad'. But I'd forgotten who I was dealing with, or rather, who I _wasn't. _This wasn't Vladdie, the geeky best friend I'd known in college. This was Vlad Masters, the billionaire business tycoon who had the judges in his pocket.

He would win. A bill into a bribeable wallet, an enticing offer to an avaricious soul, and they were his. But I wouldn't give up my rights on Danny. I was the one who had mothered him, I had a husband and a family, I'd never abused my son- -there was nothing that they could hold against me. Coupled with the fact that there was no conclusive proof that Vlad was the father aside from slight physical similarities, my case was better than his. My connections and wallet were a different matter, and in the real world, wasn't that all that counted?

So perhaps I was fighting a losing battle, but fight it I would.

I just wished that I would have my husband fighting by my side. It was painfully obvious that Jack loved Jazz more than Danny. She was his real daughter, and he wasn't his real son. I knew that Jack was making an effort, but not much of one.

When Danny was a baby, Jack created a ghost shield to keep around his crib. While perfect for keeping specters away, it was experimental in the fact that it repelled humans as well, to an extent. My husband was trying to lock my son away, to isolate him from the rest of us.

He always set up the ghost sensors to go off at my baby's bedtime, shocking him awake at the worst of times. There weren't ever any real specters around. It was just petty, but I made no mention of it.

The most immature thing Jack had ever done, though, was incinerate Danny's teddy bear-with an ectogun, I surmised after finding traces of ectoplasm in the ashes. I knew that he could never fully learn to accept Danny, but did he have to destroy a baby's stuffed toy?

But the worst thing Jack ever did to him was give him up to Vlad. It was the one thing I couldn't forgive.

Vlad was a good liar. I knew this from the moment I first met him-the way his eyes shifted, the way words rolled off his tongue stained silver and too smooth, the way he could make anyone believe what he wanted them to. In the years of his absence, this particular skill of his has grown sharper.

And yet I knew that the most hurtful of things was not a well-crafted lie, but the ugly truth.

Whatever Vlad had told my husband on the day before we went to court, I had little doubt that it was honest. I could see it in both their distressed faces after they'd returned. But whatever horrible truth Jack had discovered, that was no excuse for what he did next.

He said nothing to me that day. He ignored any attempts I made in talking to him, even the freshly baked fudge I had made just for him.

During the trial, he openly denounced Danny.

I was shocked, angered, and betrayed. But his word meant little without my consent. It was made clear that he did not have it when I slapped him soundly right there in the courtroom. He wouldn't even look me in the eye afterwards.

Jack's announcement was not enough to give Vlad automatic custody, but he did gain something. He gained a year. A year in which he could raise my boy as he deemed fit, in which he could mold and corrupt my son into a mirror image of himself. After twelve months, terms would be renegotiated.

Even with my meager knowledge of the law, I knew that this wasn't normal procedure. Especially with my vast knowledge of Vlad Masters, I knew that this was merciful by his standards.

That's what led me to today, ushering my baby boy into the fancy limousine waiting for him. He frowned at me, fiddling with the straps of his tiny backpack.

"Mommy, where's Da- Unca Jack?"

After the trial, I had forbidden Danny to call Jack his 'Daddy'. The man wasn't worthy of the title. Neither was Vlad, but there was little I could do about that.

"Jack can't come today," I said brusquely. He wasn't allowed to come. I'd left him in our room and told him that he wasn't welcome anywhere near Danny's farewell.

Danny's face fell, but he nodded sadly. "Will I go to Daddy Vlad's big house now?" he seemed to perk up a bit, eyes shining at the thought of expensive toys and a castle full of hidey-holes.

'Daddy Vlad' had started as a joke. The billionaire came often enough that Danny saw him as a constant figure in his life. One day, he had slipped up and called Vlad 'Daddy' in front Jack and I. Finding our constipated looks (and Vlad's bemused one) hilarious, Danny started calling him 'Daddy Vlad'. The name stuck.

"Yes honey," I kissed his forehead, fighting back tears. "You'll be living with Vlad for a while, okay?"

Danny nodded happily. "But Mommy will come visit?"

I hesitated. "I don't know, sweetie. I-I don't think I can."

His little mouth pulled into a frown, but he nodded in that all-accepting two-year-old way. "Okay. Bye, Mommy. Bye, Jazzy."

Jazz had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the exchange. She was nearly five, but she was smart enough to know that Danny would be going away for a long time.

She raised her tearful eyes from the pavement. Suddenly, she ran forward and tackled the younger boy in a hug, wailing. "I'll miss you, little brother!"

I watched the limo until it turned the corner. Even then, I still stared vacantly at the empty sidewalk until Jazz's small hands tugged on my own.

"Let's go home, Mommy." She said with all the authority she could muster in her five-year-old body.

I nodded, dark thoughts seeping into my mind. Now to deal with my husband.

* * *

**Ah, misunderstandings. Don't you just love them? :D Is it bad that I don't feel guilty for doing this to Jack?**

**So, Danny will be spending the year with Vlad! **  
**If Vlad doesn't gain full custody after that, oh well. Danny'll be three. He won't remember a thing by the time he's fourteen. :P**

**R&R please! Reviewers get Danny's teddy bear! . . .  
**


	4. Speak less than thou knowest

**Ummm..very short. Same thing, Vlad POV, plus Danny's arrival. Sorry for all the** **repeats! :P The plot will continue after the polls are closed. Don't worry though, the next chapter won't be the same thing AGAIN. :D. It'll be Danny's year with Vlad!**

**Special thanks to DarkShade5221, Jeanette9a, DannySamlover20, RandomSpazz92, Kira Sema, Dragonian Master, Nickyx3, Guest, GetaSessh, Maltese, 239pony, SunnyDay23, and xXBookNinjaXx for all your reviews! Thanks guys! :)**

* * *

**_The band that seems to tie their friendship together will be the very strangler of their amity -Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra_**

* * *

Vlad was excited. It wasn't an emotion he often showed (nor, indeed, was any other emotion. He preferred to keep himself hard to read), but just for this day, he would make an exception.

He could hardly believe that Daniel was his son! He, Maddie and Jack never spoke of 'that night', and until he confronted Jack, he was almost inclined to believe it had just been a highly vivid dream. (Highly vivid; because unlike his peers, he remembered most of the event. It was extremely hard for a ghost to get drunk, after all. He'd only been slightly tipsy when Maddie had started coming on to him. Although he wasn't sure when Jack had joined in, so perhaps he'd been drunker than he'd thought.)

Admittedly, someone as observant as Vlad should have noticed the resemblance as soon as he laid eyes on Daniel. In his defense, he'd been a _little _bit panicked when he'd seen ecto-technology around the six-month-old baby, and hadn't looked at said baby too closely. Jack, the idiot that he was, had put a ghost shield around Daniel-an _experimental _shield, he gathered from Maddie's angry rants on the phone, which could have harmed Daniel greatly. Despite their rocky relationship, Maddie had still called him from time to time.

It was unlikely that she'd do so now, he noted sadly, unless it was to curse his very existence.

Throughout the next two years, he'd had plenty of time to observe the boy. He visited the Fenton house often, curious about the weak ectosignature coming from the child. At first he'd thought it was because Jack let him spend so much time around ectoplasmic inventions, but he started to get suspicious when Jack had mentioned that Danny incinerated a stuffed toy. Jack immediately clammed up after that, as though he'd said something he shouldn't have. This only served to make Vlad even more curious.

At the time, he hadn't immediately jumped to the conclusion that the boy was his son. Daniel looked very much like Maddie, although he got his coloring from Jack (or so he'd thought). Vlad noticed that the toddler's eyes were darker than his alleged best friend's, but he discounted it as a genetic anomaly. Jasmine's hair was lighter than Maddie's, the Manson's daughter looked nothing like her parents, and Daniel's eyes were darker than Jack's. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

He didn't find out until he sent the vultures.

The vultures were a trio of idiotic ghosts, his most dispensable minions. But they completed their duties well enough, moronic though they were, so he sent them with two jobs. The first was to kill Jack inconspicuously, and the second to determine the cause of Daniel having a ghostly signature.

They failed in their first task. He was just about ready to blast them when they'd hurriedly exclaimed that Danny Fenton had ghost powers.

* * *

_"No doubt about it," the bird said shakily, leaning away from Vlad's ecto-infused fist. "That boy's a ghost."_

_"He's human, I've seen him." Plasmius said impatiently as the ectoblast started to glow brighter. "If you're trying to save your skins, you'd better think of something better than-"_

_"Maybe he's a halva!" the second bird yelled quickly._

_Vlad froze. "What did you say?"_ _he asked in disbelief._

_The ghost nodded and started babbling. "Yes, maybe he's a halva._ _He vas human, but he shot me with ectoplazm. And lemme tell you, boss, that HURT. Before that he released some vorm of ghostly scream. Shattered all the windows, it did. Ov course, the redhead wivey blamed us for it."_

_"But I'm the only halfa in existence," Plasmius mused, cutting through the ghost's rambling._

_"Dunno boss," the last vulture shrugged. "Maybe you aren't."_

* * *

He'd confronted Jack afterwards. It didn't take much for the idiot to admit that Daniel was his son, but it had still come as a shock.

_He _had a son. He had a son with _Maddie. _He had a _son._

Through the heady haze, he registered that Jack wasn't willing to give him_ his_ child. He was immediately brought back to reality, angered. He wouldn't stand for this. Daniel would be his son, even if he had to kill Jack to get him.

Fortunately, the court was very easily bought. Most of the judges were susceptible to bribes, whether in the form of money or other tantalizing temptations. Those who were moral, upright, were dealt with in a different way. Often by overshadowing them, but there were other ways as well.

The only thing he needed, and indeed wanted to get through honest means, was Maddie's consent.

However, Maddie was a stubborn, prideful woman. It was one of the reasons he had fallen in love with her, but it was proving to be a formidable obstacle.

He didn't actually plan to get to her through Jack, but that was a nice side affect. Come to think of it, he didn't quite know what had possessed him to tell the man his secret. All he knew at the time, was that he had to convince one of Daniel's parents to give him custody and that Jack was unfortunately one of them.

When he'd called Jack away, he had initially planned to coerce the man. Perhaps blackmail him or threaten him, whatever worked. But some form of emotion had overwhelmed him then, a strong urge to admit to his once-best friend what he had become. What said best friend had turned him into.

It was gratifying to see Jack's stunned face, but at the same time extremely confusing. For years, Vlad had believed that Jack had caused his death on purpose to have Maddie for himself, which was why he'd hated the man with a passion. Jack's genuine horror, however, revealed that the man truly had been as ignorant as he'd claimed to be.

Vlad would still never forgive him; for murder, accidental or not, was still murder. But perhaps he no longer hated Jack quite as much as he used to.

At the trial the next day, Jack denounced young Daniel, as Vlad had expected he would. Maddie didn't know, but this alone was enough to close the case. But Vlad didn't want to utterly devastate the woman he loved, so he made an arrangement. He would keep Daniel for twelve months, enough time to teach him the basics of controlling his ghost powers. Depending on the circumstances, he would decide whether or not to return the boy to her by the end of the year. Namely, depending on how attached he would become to his son.

He vowed to keep himself at a distance so as not to make Maddie miserable. To be only a mentor, not a father.

He was pulled out of his musings when Daniel came running out of the limo to tackle him around the legs, grinning widely. "Daddy Vlad!"

Judging by the way his heart warmed immediately, he didn't have much hope of keeping that vow.

* * *

**Good? Bad? Whaddya think?** **(Polls close tomorrow, so please vote!)**

**R&R please! Reviewers get Vlad's limo. :P He certainly has far too many of them, and he won't give one to me, the jerk.**


	5. Vex not this ghost

**This is a little different from the others, but I hope you like it ^_^ I'm feeling a bit under the weather, guys, so sorry for any mistakes or if this chapter is crappy. :P  
**

* * *

**_If from infancy you treat children like gods, they are liable in adulthood to act like devils -P.D. James, the Children of Men_**

* * *

Daniel had been living at the castle for a month. The boy loved to explore his new home, and he was getting much better at controlling his ghostly abilities. He adapted splendidly, in Plasmius's opinion.

Skulker's, not so much.

As far as he was concerned the whelp was a nuisance. He popped up at the most random times, shooting stray ectoblasts at Skulker's helmet, then laughed at the metallic sound they made on impact. If Skulker wasn't dead already, he was sure he would have had a heart attack by now. The whelp once attacked him while he was in the little ghost's room. Who does that, anyway?

It didn't matter that the brat was just two years old-jumping people in the bathroom was _not _allowed. True, he hadn't actually been doing anything except cleaning his suit, but it was the principle of the matter.

Skulker had actually found out about the brat a few weeks before his arrival. He thought that his employer's behavior was a bit off, so he decided to do a little snooping in Plasmius' office. The halfa would probably kill him for it if he found out, but Skulker felt that it was worth the risk, especially when he found a folder of lab results.

_So Plasmius is sick?_ he had thought at the time. _Well, I guess that means he'll soon be joining our side permanently._

It was probably morbid to assume that an illness would automatically lead to death, but hey, he was a ghost. Deciding that he wanted to tell everyone what had _really _offed Vlad Plasmius in case the man tried to spin his own, more dramatic tale, Skulker opened the folder.

And promptly dropped it in shock.

_No way. _Skulker recoiled from the papers like they had burned him. _No fucking way in hell._

Taking a deep breath, he gingerly reached for the files. Holding them at arm's length, he began to read out loud.

"DNA Paternity Testing." Quickly skipping over the technical jargon, he arrived at the numbers. "...99.91% match."

_Well, damn. Plasmius is a daddy. _He slapped a hand over his mouth to stop himself from giggling hysterically. After returning the folders to their previous place, Skulker left the room, chuckling lightly.

He certainly wasn't laughing when the demon brat from hell finally arrived.

The kid had Plasmius' eyes and a different face, presumably the mother's. His face looked innocent, full of childish curiosity. Skulker wasn't quite sure what to make of him, but the way he grinned and called him 'Unca Skulker' indicated that Daniel was just another annoying human toddler. Aside from his cutesy attitude, the brat wouldn't be a problem.

Boy was he wrong. A few weeks of associating with said brat made Skulker re-evalute his entire first impression. The whelp was _pure evil._

It started with pranks. Skulker would walk into the foyer to find himself covered in neon pink paint. Or tripping into a barrel of ecto-slime. Or being bombarded with pebbles via slingshot. Or getting pounced on by that ghost dog of his.

Now these were annoying, but harmless. He still wanted to strangle the whelp, but he didn't think that Danny was evil.

Then he got his ghost powers, and things took a turn for the worse. The whelp had always had powers; invisibility, intangibility, weak ectoblasts- -basic stuff. It was after Plasmius had taught him to control them that things got bad for Skulker.

As he had mentioned before, the whelp appeared randomly. Taking advantage of his new found abilities, he snuck up on people and assaulted them with ectoblasts, pebbles, and anything else he could make or grab. Still, Skulker didn't think that this was evil. The brat wasn't actually hurting anyone with his ineffectual arsenal, he just wanted attention.

It was when he started blackmailing that Skulker became convinced Danny was a miniature Plasmius.

* * *

_Skulker was walking down the hallway, concentrating on a loose bolt on his arm. Seeing as he hadn't been paying attention to his surroundings, he almost tripped over Danny when the whelp appeared in front of him._

_The hunter narrowed his eyes. He knew that the brat could turn invisible, but he shouldn't have been able to stay quiet enough to evade the hunter's senses. Deciding to ponder that problem later, Skulker settled for glaring. "What do you want, whelp?"_

_The two-year-old smiled innocently, blue eyes large. "Can I borrow your toys, Unca Skulker?"_

_Skulker bristled. "They're _weapons, _not toys!"_

_Danny scrunched up his nose, like he didn't see what the difference was. "Okay, Unca Skulker. Can I borrow your weee-ponies?"_

_"Weapons, brat! Not wee-ponies!" the hunter snapped. "And no, you can't!"_

_"Why NOT?" Danny whined, levitating off the ground to reach for Skulker's arm, which still had a loose bolt. "BORED. Wanna play with wee-ponies!"_

_"Amuse yourself some other way, whelp." the hunter grunted, leaning away from the tiny hands. "You'll break my weapons."_

_Danny kept grabbing at Skulker. The ghost tried to twist away from him, snarling angrily. His eyes flashed behind the helmet. He knew how to deal with brats like these. It didn't matter that this was Plasmius's kid_-_a good scare would put him in his place! Skulker drew back his arm to punch the wall next to the boy's head, possibly cracking it and intimidating the little brat. But just before his arm shot forward, Danny managed to grab the loose screw._

_Skulker watched in horror as his arm detached from the rest of his armor, flying in the air and hitting Danny in the face._

_"Crap, crap, crap." Skulker muttered, racing over to the dazed boy. Danny looked up at him in shock, raising a small hand to his head. When he pulled his palm away, bright red blood came with it._

_"You hurt me," the toddler said in disbelief. "Why'd you do that, Unca Skulker?"_

_Skulker winced. "I didn't mean to, okay? Let me see that! It's just a scratch, we can get it fixed in no time-Plasmius won't ever find out_..."

_Something in Danny's eyes changed at that statement. He tilted his head to regard Skulker. The ghost almost felt scared at those calculating eyes. It was just a kid, he wouldn't be able to do anything even if he was Plasmius's son_-

_"You don't want Daddy to know you hurt me, Unca Skulker?" Danny asked curiously._

_'"Uh, no," the ghost answered distractedly, trying to stem the bleeding. "Let's keep that between us, shall we?"_

_The boy looked at him, then at his severed arm, then him again. "Can I have this, Unca Skulker?"_

_"What?!" Skulker __stopped attending to the cut, glaring at Danny. "Of course not! That's my arm!"_

_Danny grinned in a way that was reminiscent of the smile Plasmius gave him. The one that usually made him quiver in his armor._ _"If I can't have this thingy, I'll tell Daddy you hurt me."_

_Skulker stared at him. "You can't be serious."_

_Danny blinked innocently._

_"You _are_ serious. You're blackmailing me! You can't blackmail me! You're two!" _

_Danny just smiled._

* * *

Okay, maybe it didn't look that bad from an outsider's point of view. But Plasmius was crazy protective of Danny, and the whelp _knew _that! The whelp had seen his father threaten to emasculate anyone who dared to upset Danny! He knew what would happen if he told on Skulker!

And tell on him he did.

Skulker shuddered at the memory, wrenching himself back to the present.

Danny craned his neck from his position on Skulker's lap and grinned.

* * *

**Baby Danny's evil! :D** **Oh well. It's in the genes.**

**Tell me if this chappie isn't up to par, and I'll try to change it. :{P**

**I've decided to keep the poll open, because there isn't any urgent need to add the custody scene for another few chapters.**

**R&R please!**

**Reviewers get Skulker's wee-ponies!**

**A/N The chapter titles are all quotes from Shakespeare, so they might not necessarily make sense.**


	6. To my sick soul

**Guys, I'd just like to remind you to vote for who'll win custody! Polls will close soon. :)**

**So here's chapter 6, Vlad's back story. :) Or my version of it, at least**.

* * *

_**I am disgraced, impeach'd and baffled here, **__  
__**Pierced to the soul with slander's venom'd spear,**__  
__**The whicIh no balm can cure but his heart-blood **__  
__**Which breathed this poison. **__  
__**-Shakespeare, Richard II**_

* * *

To be wrapped around one's finger.

Vlad had heard the term often, particularly from parents who adored their children. He himself hadn't had any idea what they meant and thought those people were particularly weak-minded. After all, who would be controlled by a child? Children, in his opinion, were noisy, spoiled creatures who had no knowledge of the real world outside their happy, delusional bubbles. Adults who would listen to them were even more out-of-touch with reality than their offspring, though they were worse because they already knew of the world, yet still complied with childish requests.

That was what he had thought. Then he met Daniel.

Now, he was questioning his previous views as he operated on three days of caffeine to concentrate on finishing this task, simply because the boy had looked at him with large, teary eyes, and said 'Please, Daddy!'.

When Daniel had first arrived, he had sworn that he wouldn't get too attached to the boy. He would be a teacher, a mentor, but not a father. The reason he told himself was that he didn't want to hurt Maddie by claiming their son as his own entirely. Deep down, though, he knew that it was because he knew he would be a terrible father. If Vlad bothered to analyze this thought, this was what he would find;

He simply didn't know how to be a father. Why, he barely even knew how to love! For nearly a decade of his life, he was in love with the same woman-a taken woman, at that-who had never reciprocated. His schoolboy crush grew to love which morphed into obsession. During that period, he'd vaguely wondered if it was his ghost side that had latched on to Maddie as its obsession, since it was far beyond normal boundaries of admiration.

Vlad had no friends nor family either. His past was a miserable, twisted occurrence that was peppered with dark spots and convoluted plots, both from and against him. Perhaps his story was atypical and similar to other miserable children's, yet that was not to say that it wasn't equally devastating. Just because a situation exists in numerous times and places, does not mean that there is an obvious solution nor does it make this easier to deal with. He had no relatives to speak of or was in contact with, and by now he assumed that they had all met their demise.

The University of Wisconsin had been a welcome, unexpected break for him. He'd used underhanded methods and his own brains to get in, simply because a degree would smoothen his path into a successful future. Prior to those days, he'd already experienced hardships that had sharpened his manipulative skills and his trust in people was all but nonexistent.

He walked into the campus expecting an environment like all the others he had lived in. A cruel world where lying was breathing and backstabbing was the next big trend. He'd expected to have to manipulate, blackmail, and claw his way to a relatively safe standing within the social ladder.

With these prospects in mind, Jack Fenton had been a surprise indeed. At first he was suspicious of the man; perhaps his naive, trusting nature was simply a ruse cleverer than his own, one that was designed to lull him into a false sense of security and drop his guard. A wolf in sheep's clothing, so to speak. After a few weeks of having Jack as his roommate, he discovered that this was not the case. Jack's life had hardly been without tragedy, yet he had somehow grown to be an optimistic creature, determined to see the best in people. It was refreshing, Vlad had felt, to have a simple mind to contradict his twisted nature.

For the first time in a long time, Vlad believed that he had a friend. Oh yes, they had been true friends back then. Even after Maddie came into the picture.

It wasn't love at first sight for Vlad. He had never believed in such idiotic notions, even when he had still held a modicum of trust in people. He'd certainly noticed that Madeline was attractive, but that was it. In his experience, women were even less trustworthy than their male counterparts, being enigmatic creatures designed by genetics to lure men in. You never quite knew where you stood with them, this fact even more true when it came to beautiful ones.

So he'd been distrustful of her at first, watching out for her schemes as he always treated anyone save Jack. Jack liked her very much, but Jack liked _everyone _so he couldn't base his trust on that. She was smart, and picked up on his discomfort almost immediately. When he saw understanding spark in her gorgeous eyes, he'd prepared himself for whatever assault she would throw at him. He met her gaze challengingly, waiting for a smirk or a cruel glint, any slip that would show her true colors.

Instead, she smiled. A genuine, kind smile.

Vlad was thrown off guard, shock showing through his mask of carefully calculated indifference for the first time in years. She knew that he was suspicious of her motives, yet she didn't care. She smiled in a sad way, like she wanted him to stop being so guarded around others, but in a way that was so honest that he couldn't possibly doubt her.

He began to get to know her. He was still wary, but that caution quickly crumbled away after it had found no cause to exist. Madeline was a rarity like Jack, kind and honest in a way that he wouldn't have thought possible. Yet unlike Jack, she was so very smart. She was a genius in chemicals and mechanics, but it was her wit that intrigued him. The way her eyes locked on their target sharply made him realize that she saw everything. She wasn't blind to the world's cruelty like Jack was. Madeline _knew _the dangers of being associated with certain people like himself, she _knew _that he was dangerous.

But she didn't care. She knew just how much of a manipulative bastard people like him could be, yet she just wanted to _help. _She wanted to help him trust again, to genuinely be his friend.

He started falling for her, hard and fast. 'Madeline' became simply 'Maddie', the woman who was _different _from everyone else, the woman whom he grew to love.

She didn't reciprocate, at least not romantically, but he held hope. She was the only woman for whom he had ever felt these things and he did not want to lose her. Then one night, Jack admitted that he too had feelings for Maddie.

_"I'm telling you, V-Man." he laughed. "She's the one."_

_Vlad remained silent, turmoil raging in him._

He had never told Jack about his love for the redhead, falling back on the old habit that no one was to be trusted with his weaknesses. Still, when Jack had said that, he'd felt jealousy and possessiveness like no other surfacing in him. He knew that if he told his best friend about his own feelings, the man would back down just to be a good friend.

But what if he didn't? What if he turned on Vlad?

Vlad couldn't have that. To lose the woman of his dreams _and_ his best friend would be utterly devastating to him, and he didn't know if he'd recover. So he remained silent, trying to convince himself that an angel like Maddie was better off without a man like him anyway. Sometimes, he succeeded. Other times he wanted to smother Jack in his sleep.

He'd thought of betraying Jack many times. It would be _easy. _The man was far too trusting, he'd never suspect a thing until the last moment, when the full extent of Vlad's plot was revealed...

He couldn't do it. Vlad had always come so close to destroying his best friend, but one look at those trusting eyes, and he would falter. He couldn't do that to his _friend._

But then, everything changed.

It was supposed to be just another experiment. Just a testing phase to prove the existence of sentient life forms beyond the grave, whom presumably had homes in a realm entirely different to theirs. Their goal was to built a doorway to this realm to prove the existence of such entities. Vlad hadn't truly believed in ghosts, but he'd figured that if humoring Maddie and Jack was the price of their friendship, he'd pay it. It was harmless after all, ghosts weren't real so they would never find any conclusive proof. Or so he'd believed.

(The irony was not lost on him.)

He'd been leaning down to examine the proto-portal when it began to grow an unholy red. Before he had time to dodge, a searing pain consumed him.

_He was burning, he was being torn in two, everything hurt, stopstopSTOPTHEPAIN, he was DYING someone DOSOMETHING- - -_

The last thing he saw was a can of soda, clenched in Jack's hand, the ecto-purifier lying uselessly to the side.

He woke up covered in boils at a hospital. Perhaps Maddie and Jack had brought him there. He was confused, uncertain. What exactly was going on? They'd been working on the portal and then...yes, yes, he remembered. Jack had, in his typical idiocy, mixed up an important part of the portal.

Vlad grimaced, then reached to the table near him to press the nurse's call button. He needed water.

Absentmindedly, he clicked on the button several times before he realized that no one came running in. Frowning, he looked down at his hand.

Only to find it passing directly through the plastic.

It had taken time and plenty of panic attacks, but he had eventually figured out what had happened.

He was a ghost.

Vlad nearly laughed hysterically. He finally decided to trust people and his best friend killed him? Life was cruel. But he wasn't even _alive _anymore, was he?

In his years in confinement, he heard of Jack and Maddie's marriage. Anger, betrayal, and every other emotion coursed through him as he crushed the letter in his hands. _This _was what he got for believing in people! It served him right for trusting that there was _good _in people! Jack would pay for this! For abusing their friendship, for _killing _him, for stealing Maddie- - -!

Maddie.

As much as he tried to go back to his cold exterior, the woman had already wormed herself into his heart. He couldn't destroy or abandon his feelings, even if she loved another man, he couldn't stop loving her. After he had let love into his heart, he couldn't just _let her go _because that would destroy him. She was his only chance at happiness now, as twisted as that was.

Something dark and ugly grew in him, all-encompassing and all-consuming. It ate away at him, growing just as vapidly as his new ghost powers- -his new _death_ powers- -it turned him into a creature altogether more horrible than he had been before.

In his pre-college days, he'd still upheld a few meager morals. Once he was cured, that all went to hell. He overshadowed people who would benefit him, killed those who got in his way, annihilated those who opposed him until he had strong-armed his way to the very top.

He was Vladimir Masters, billionaire in the human world and tyrant in the Ghost Zone. No one would stand in his way and he would not, under any circumstances, _trust _again.

He was vile and twisted and would never care for anyone beyond obsession- - -_could _never care for anyone again, because they would just betray him.

Then Daniel came into his life.

Vlad hadn't anticipated how quickly Daniel would worm his way into his heart. He had truly expected to be a distant teacher figure in the boy's life, but it had worked out into something kinder. The warmth of fatherly love he felt whenever he saw Daniel was truly... a pleasant change.

The boy had been living at his castle for, what was it, three months now? And already Vlad was already complying to his every wish.

Skulker had complained that he was being too lenient and Vlad would be inclined to believe him, if he hadn't also spouted some nonsense about Daniel being 'completely, demonically evil'. Daniel was a sweet, mild-mannered child, if a bit mischievous. Skulker clearly needed a break from his duties. He was beginning to hallucinate.

He hadn't _meant _to give in to the boy's requests. It just happened.

It started with little things. Sweets before lunchtime, permission to wander the halls, and other small things like that. Then they got bigger. Playing with weapons, firing ectoblasts (mostly at Skulker), and keeping a ghost dog.

He didn't know _where _Daniel had found that dog. All he knew was that the owner of Axion Labs had come over for a business meeting, and by the time he left Daniel already had a new pet named Cujo. He had refused to keep the dog at first, but Daniel's tearful pleas had him ordering Skulker to build a ghost-proof dog house.

And then came the biggest request of them all.

* * *

_"What would you like for your birthday, Daniel?"_

_The toddler looked up at him questioningly. "Birthday still months away, Daddy."_

_"Yes, I know that," Vlad said, smiling slightly at the title. "But I was just wondering if you wanted anything in particular. A personal amusement park, perhaps? That would take months to build. You can have anything you want, you know."_

_Danny's eyes lit up. " 'Musement park? Like a carny-val?"_

_Vlad laughed, picking him up. "Yes, Daniel. Like a carnival. Would you like that?"_

_Danny grinned, nodding. Then he paused, face scrunching up in that identical expression children always wore when they puzzled over a complicated matter. "I can have _anything _I want?"_

_Vlad knew he would regret it, but he answered automatically. "Yes, anything."_

_The two year old beamed. "I wanna sister!"_

_Vlad was so shocked he nearly dropped the boy. "A-a sister? Daniel, you already have a sister. Jasmine, remember?"_

_Danny frowned. "But I wanna _little _sister." he looked at the billionaire hopefully. "Anything I want, right Daddy?"_

_"Daniel, why on earth do you want a younger sister?" Vlad demanded, baffled._

_Danny looked down and played with his fingers. "Jazzy always protects me. Wanna protect someone too."_

_Vlad sighed and was about to explain that he didn't necessarily need a younger sibling to protect someone, when Danny spoke again._

_"Wanna boss around someone too." The boy grinned impishly._

_Ah. So that was the true reason._

_Vlad looked at Danny sternly. Danny stared back, eyes widening and lower lip trembling. "Please, Daddy? Please, please, please, please, please?"_

_His resolve crumbled away. "I'll...see what I can do."_

* * *

That was what had him here in the lab, one week before his son's birthday and hooked up on caffeine.

Vlad examined his handiwork. He couldn't exactly fornicate with another woman in the hopes of getting her pregnant just for Danny's birthday, and not just because they didn't have nine months. Plus, he wanted to keep the half-ghost anomaly as a family trait. There was a chance that the genes wouldn't be passed on as well as it had to Daniel a second time. So he had thought long and hard, and after a long deliberation, he came up with the solution. Now that it was done, he had to admit he felt quite proud of himself.

It wasn't very easy to create clones after all.

"Your name is Danielle," he told the sleeping baby in the tube.

* * *

**Ta-Da! Dani's here! **

**Canon-Vlad is probably not that big of a pushover, but oh well. :P**

**R&R! Reviewers get Danny's personal amusement park!**

**And don't forget to vote!**

**:D**


	7. Friendship is constant in all things

**42 reviews in 6 days... I love you guys. :)**  
**Special thanks to Jeanette9a, Astronomer Always, DannySamlover20, Crows Melody, madeline chavez 77, Kira Sema, Darkshade5221, and Sunnyday23 for your lovely reviews last chapter**! :D

**Again, please vote for who will win custody of Danny! Or he'll end up in a broken home. :(  
**

* * *

_**Nothing you do for a child is ever wasted -Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home**_

* * *

This. Was. Hilarious.

"Why, why, why did I ever sign up to work for Plasmius all those years ago?" Skulker despaired. "Whyyyy?"

Ember looked at her boyfriend, snickering in amusement. He'd been going on about this for the past couple of hours. Which was a pretty long time for a ghost to concentrate on something that wasn't their obsession, so she probably should be worried or something...

But it was too damn funny to watch her boyfriend get bested by the little monsters.

The diva laughed as Danny once again tripped Skulker, making him do a form of twist-somersault move to avoid landing on Danielle (and that only ended up with him falling face first onto the marble floors). The two halfas giggled, pawing at their current babysitter. Ember laughed loudly.

"You could try helping me, you know." Skulker mumbled in a muffled voice.

"I could," she agreed, but made no move to do so. Defeated and ally-less, the hunter let the children take apart his armor to be used for their playthings.

The rock star grinned, remembering how they had gotten stuck with the two toddlers.

* * *

_Ember leaned in to kiss her boyfriend, savoring the romantic moment. They were in a castle, like the ones you saw in Disney movies. Except this one had a huge high-tech sound system. Ember_ _felt like a princess._

_"You can't be Danny! I'm Danny!"_

_"ME DANI! YOU NO DANI!"_

_"Daddy!"_

_"DADDY!"_

_Just like that, the moment was broken. Skulker groaned and buried his face in his hands. Ember looked at him quizzically_.

_"Plasmius's kids." he answered the unspoken question._

_The rock star's eyebrows rose to her hairline, surprised. "He has _kids_?"_

_"Don't remind me," her boyfriend grumbled_. _"They're demons."_

_Then the double doors slammed open, revealing an irate Vlad Plasmius carrying a pair of arguing toddlers, looking like he was on his very last nerve. He caught sight of the couple. "There you are, Skulker."_

_The hunter in question looked at his employer, shuddering when he saw the two 'demons'. "Ya need me for something, boss?"_

_"Yes," with swift strides, Plasmius crossed the room and promptly dropped his children into a surprised Skulker's arms. "You'll be watching these two for the rest of the day. I have a business meeting to attend to."_

_Skulker's jaw dropped. "Plasmius, I can't- -"_

_"Goodbye, Skulker, Ember." he quickly exited. "Best of luck."_ _Ember pressed her ear to the door, hearing the billionaire faintly grumble something along the lines of 'Why did I EVER think having two of them would be a good idea?'._

_The hunter stared at the two with increasing horror. They smiled matching, devilish grins up at him._

_"Guess you're our babysitter." three-year-old Danny chirped._

_"We're gonna have loads of fun, Unca Skulker." one-year-old Danielle promised._

_Skulker gulped._

* * *

It hadn't even been two hours and the kids had already drenched her boyfriend in glitter, pelted him with water balloons, and set his helmet on fire. They were now in the process of disassembling him for the third time.

Ember finally took pity on her lover and decided to help. She walked over to where Danny and Dani were trying to pull Skulker's boot off.

"Alright, babypops!" they looked up at her. "Who wants to hear a song?"

The two quickly dropped the hunter's boot and raced to the rock star. There was a brief skirmish as they fought over a seat on Ember's lap before she put them both on the floor and joined them.

"It goes like this..."

Fifteen minutes later, the two toddlers were yawning and curling up on the couch. Ember gave herself a pat on the back for thinking of that lullaby.

"You're a really good singer, Auntie Ember..." Danielle murmured drowsily. "...You should sing at my birthday party... Danny had a great party this year..."

The rock star smiled, her heart warming. "Sure I will, babypop. When's your birthday?"

"Daddy said..." The girl yawned. "...that I was born three weeks ago..."

Ember raised her eyebrows and opened her mouth to ask, when a hand landed on her shoulder. She looked at Skulker questioningly. He shook his head and she took the hint, leaning over to spread a blanket over the children.

Once she made sure they were asleep, she rounded on her boyfriend. "Why did Plasmius tell her she was born three weeks ago?"

The hunter avoided her glare, looking at the kids. "You shoulda put them to sleep earlier. Like two hours ago."

"Skulker!"

Skulker sighed, turning to her. "He told her that because that _was _when she was born."

"Skulker, she's at least one!" Ember exclaimed.

"She was designed that way," the hunter said dryly. "Apparently Vlad doesn't want to deal with all the diapers."

The diva was getting frustrated at her boyfriend's vague replies. "Explain."

The hunter frowned. "She's a clone. The whelp wanted a baby sister for his birthday, so Plasmius cloned him."

Ember's jaw dropped. _"What?"_

Her boyfriend headed towards the exit. "I'm gonna raid the lab while the boss isn't here. You gonna be okay with the brats?"

The diva waved him away absently, lost in her thoughts.

She didn't know the adult halfa all that well, nor did she know humans well, but she was sure that cloning someone was illegal for a reason. It was inhumane to create a double of the same person because it was violating and bizarre, not to mention plain _creepy. _The clone would technically be an exact replica of its original, but with the same DNA, thought patterns and habits, it was essentially that. A replica. A _copy._

Cruelly, a clone was a sentient being. It would know that it was just a shadow, but it would also be capable of thought and feeling and it was just downright _cruel _for it to exist knowing that it was only a xerox of someone else.

Ember looked at the two children. Danny had his arms wrapped around Danielle, holding her to him in a protective brotherly embrace. She suddenly felt sad.

A sudden ring made her jump. Ember picked up the phone hesitantly. "Hello?"

"How are my children?"

The divas eyes narrowed. "Plasmius. Did you clone Danny?"

There was a pause on the other end. "I assume Skulker is raiding my laboratory. I'll call back later."

"Don't you dare hang up!" Ember seethed. "How could you?!"

"How could I what, my dear?"

"That girl is going to grow up _knowing _that she'll never be as good as Danny! She's going to know that it's because she's just a _c__opy _of an _original _person! How could you be so cruel as to do that to a kid? Why create her at all!?"

"She won't find out."

Ember was taken aback. "What?"

"She will never find out that she is a clone. Nor will Daniel. To them, they are siblings."

"You selfish, manipulative, _sonofa- -"_

"Calm down, Ember." Plasmius's voice was amused, and it ticked the diva off. "There seems to be a misunderstanding here."

"Do explain," she replied, her voice dripping with venom.

"While Danielle is, indeed, a clone, she is not an exact copy. Being simply of a different gender, she has different thought patterns and will grow up to have different habits than Daniel's. When I created her, I used Daniel's DNA, true, but I did not transplant any of his memories _or _his personality into her brain. She is, essentially, an entirely different person."

"But..."

"Well, it seems like my break is over. I'll see you later in the afternoon, my dear. Good day."

Ember was still staring at the phone long after Vlad had hung up, until a pair of metallic arms wrapped around her from behind.

"What's eating you?" Skulker murmured into her hair.

She leaned back into his embrace. "It's nothing. Just...hold me, okay baby?"

Skulker complied, and she snuggled up against him until she felt herself drift off.

* * *

"Ew, they're acting mushy."

"Yeah, ewwy."

"Let's wake them up."

"How?"

"Dunno. Poke em?"

"Okay."

Ember yelped when a jolt of ectoplasm shot through her arm. She opened her eyes blearily to see Danny sitting on her stomach and poking her. The diva groaned, shaking her boyfriend. "Skulker, the kids are up."

"Great." He opened his eyes and looked at the clock. "At least Plasmius'll be back soon. Then _he _can take care of the monsters."

The rock star ignored her boyfriend, picking the children up. "Did you have a nice nap, babypops?"

Danielle grinned and nodded. Danny's eyes lit up as he looked up at her. "I had a dream!"

Ember chuckled. "What kind of dream?"

"A good one!"

"And what was this good dream about, babypop?"

Danny scrunched up his face in thought. "Don't remember."

The rock star patted his head consolingly. "I'm sure you will later."

"I remember _my_ dream!" Danielle said excitedly. "There was a big party, like Danny's! But it was for _me _and everyone was there! An' you were singing, Auntie Ember! 'Happy birthday for Dani!' "

Her brother punched her arm. "_I'm _Danny!"

Danielle looked ready to cry. Ember quickly stepped in. She gave Danny a firm stare. "Hey. No hitting people, okay?"

"But _I'm _Danny." the boy protested.

"Yes, you are. But you can't hit people just because they say something you don't like." Ember lectured. "It hurts them, see? Now apologize to your sister."

Danny looked at his sister's tear-filled eyes, guilt filling his chest. He leaned over and hugged her. "Don't cry, sis. I sorry I hit you."

"S'okay." Danielle sniffed.

_They are so cute, _Ember thought to herself, ruffling the toddlers' hair. _Maybe one day Skulker and I will have some of our own._

She frowned, looking over her boyfriend's robotic body. _How would that even work, anyway?_

Skulker whooped suddenly, tearing himself away from the window. "Plasmius is back!"

"Daddy's back!"

"Daddy!"

Ember followed the children as they raced to the front door. She arrived just in time to see them both tackle a tired Plasmius. She stifled her laughter.

"Hello, children," Vlad said wearily. "I'm home."

The excited toddlers began yammering on about their day, describing their pranks on Skulker in detail, much to Ember's amusement and the hunter's embarrassment.

"...An' Auntie Ember's gonna come to my birthday next year an' sing for me!" Danielle finished, looking at the rock star hopefully. "Right, Auntie Ember?"

"Well, your birthday is a long ways away, babypop." Ember said slowly. Danielle's face fell. The rock star grinned. "Which is why I'll be coming over for Thanksgiving, how's that?"

The children squealed happily, pouncing on the diva enthusiastically.

Ember smiled down at their happy faces, her eyes softened. Yes, she would definitely be coming back to see them.

* * *

**I hope you liked it. :D  
**

**R&R please! Reviewers get a signed Ember CD!**

**And don't forget to vote!**


	8. Interlude!

**51 reviews in 7 days.. You guys are the best. **

**This isn't actually a chapter, :P It's just taking a breather from the story. There will probably be one of these in every ten or so chapters. :D**

**The characters have responses for you lovely reviewers! :D**

* * *

Dear reviewers:

Thank you for your support. I will try to be the ideal parent you all have in mind, if I win the poll.

-Vlad Masters

**(A/N Pfftt... BS. )**

* * *

Dear reviewers:

Hiya! Thanks for reviewing! :D Didja like my teddy bear and 'musement park and wee-ponies?

Keep reviewing! :D *hugs*  
-Danny

* * *

Dear reviewers:

Me demon Dani! XD

-Danielle

* * *

Dear reviewers:

Aw shucks. Thanks for thinking I was smarter than usual in chapter 2! :D

-Jack

* * *

Dear reviewers:

Please vote for me! Don't let them take my baby!

-Maddie

* * *

Dear reviewers:

WHY DO YOU ALL HATE ME?

-Skulker

**(A/N Because you're a terrible babysitter...and so fun to torture... XD)**

* * *

Dear reviewers:

Keep driving my beau up a wall, baby pops! It's funnier than the time he- -!

_Ember, don't tell them!_

-Ember _and Skulker_

* * *

Dear reviewers:

What did you think of my present? :D I worked on it really hard! Please continue reviewing! :)!

-Jazz

* * *

Dear reviewers:

I love you guys! XD

-T Alana M

* * *

**XD. R&R!**


	9. An overflow of good converts to bad

**Dear reviewers: I HAVE JUST MADE A DISCOVERY! T ALANA M IS ACTUALLY AN ALIEN GHOST IN DISGUISE! SHE GETS OVER HER CRIPPLING ALIEN DISEASE, KNOWN AS "WRITER'S BLOCK" WHEN YOU REVIEW! PLEASE REVIEW SO I CAN GTFO OF HERE! SHE'S HOLDING ME HOSTAGE!**

**-Danny**

**T Alana M: ... It really isn't that bad, you melodramatic ghost...people quite like this, I think.**

**Danny: You made me the frootloop's son, demented woman. The. Froot. Loop's. Son**

**T Alana M: *huffs* I was being nice, you know! I could have made you Walker's kid... Hmm, in fact that sounds like an interesting- - -**

**Danny: Shut up, witch! *turns to you all* Please give her the reviews she wants before she makes my life even worse!**

**T Alana M: On that overly dramatic note, here** **is chapter 9! Enjoy! And review! :D**

**Danny: Her goal is 75 reviews by chapter 10... Help me, my phans. *puppy dog eyes***

* * *

**_The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day -Judith Viorst_**

* * *

Vlad Masters had a schedule that corresponded with Vlad Plasmius's. This schedule was the cause of most of his miseries.

As far as he was concerned, there were three loves in his life; power, his children, and Maddie.

The last one was rarely in his daily plans, especially nowadays when she seemed to utterly loathe him. The other two, however, took up large chunks of his time.

Power was something he had in both the Human World and the Ghost Zone. As Masters, he held control over eighty percent of the world's largest companies. As Plasmius, he was a tyrant to the other ghosts.

While this was all very fun and beneficial, they were also the source of headaches. When he was a prominent figure in human society, he was neck-deep in business meetings with annoying people. Not to mention all the scandals he had to deal with, as well as attempts to sabotage his companies. When he was a ghost, he had to constantly go into the Zone to make sure that no one tried to usurp his position. Combined, he only had more or less three hours of sleep a day.

Then the children came into his life. He loved them to death, really he did! But oftentimes he wondered if he had suffered temporary brain damage when he chose to take in both of them. These times came whenever they had done something particularly horrible, which was nearly every minute. So far, they had demolished the left wing, put a sea monster ghost into the swimming pool, kidnapped one of his business partners, and drove Skulker to seek therapy. All in a measly two months. (Five, in Daniel's case, but he hadn't caused too much trouble when he'd been alone).

Now individually, these worries were pretty bad. Mix them all together, and you get a very bad day for Vlad.

Such as today.

* * *

The Ghost Zone was actually a very nice place. It had an otherworldly refreshing aura, which made sense, and it was really quite beautiful. There were swirls of green and black, along with the occasional red, conjoining into one giant vortex that simply refused to obey the laws of physics.

There were doors floating in said vortex, each home to a ghost. It is what you might call their 'lair'; having been designed, created and 'lived' in by their unique obsessions. For example, Skulker's lair consisted of many traps and hunting equipment. Youngblood lived on a pirate ship. Pariah Dark was locked in a sarcophagus. And Walker, the trigger-happy warden, lived in a prison.

So yes, the Zone was a nice place with nice, psychopathic residents. Said residents normally stayed away from him. Normally.

Now, Vlad's goal for being there that day (other than making sure his tyran- -uh, _rule- -_went uncontested) was to find the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire. Neither of these sounded like particularly innocent items, but they were powerful and that was what mattered.

Unfortunately, before he could even get within three miles of Fright Night's Castle, Walker realized that the device he was using to _find _the damn castle was some sort of radar from the Human World. Thus the ghosts that normally stayed away from him were now hunting him down for 'bringing Human World contraband' into the Ghost Zone.

Vlad cursed, swerving out of the way of an Ecto-Rope Shooting Cane (that really was a mouthful, Walker should consider using shorter names for his weapons). This is what he got for not making an alliance with one of the most powerful ghosts in the Zone. He had meant to do it ages ago, but the arrival of his children had kept him a little busy.

"YOU'RE GOING DOWN, PUNK!"

The halfa looked back to see a 60 foot tall pissed off warden. Aiming an equally large ectoblast at him.

_...Oh, butter biscuits. _

* * *

Today was simply not Vlad's day.

He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly, glaring at the sources of his discomfort, who looked back at him sheepishly. Earlier that morning- -far, far earlier, like, 3'o clock in the morning early- -he'd returned from a 'routine' excursion to the Ghost Zone (in which Walker was still out for his blood), expecting to find the children fast asleep and Skulker somewhere down in his lab.

What he found was the hunter trussed up with some form of ectoplasm-powered silly string, Ember gone, and his children nowhere to be found.

He'd spent the next five hours or so searching for them, tripping over no less than seventeen traps in the process. Apparently, the children had been busy. It wasn't long before he found them in the kitchen, invisible and giggling, then scared out of their minds when they realized that it was their exhausted father and not their gullible babysitter who'd fallen into their traps.

They were now at the dining table, silent and mournful after the long, long lecture (read: screaming fit) he'd given them. Danny and Danielle picked at their food, looking guilty. Cujo jumped up and down, begging for leftovers.

_DING-DONG!_

Vlad scowled. If that was some small company coming for the sole purpose of _annoying him, _he would blast the wretch into the Ghost Zone, consequences be damned. Today's meetings were not supposed to start until at least ten!

Danny decided that he didn't like vegetables and began feeding them to the dog.

_DING-DONG!_

Where were those blasted servants? All they had to do were clean the house and let guests in! Was that really so hard?

Some of them were even able to mask their ghostly appearances for that reason alone! Couldn't they open a bloody door right?

Danielle saw what her brother was doing and attempted to copy him, but only ended up knocking her whole plate to the ground. Her eyes started to fill with tears.

_DING-DONG!_

Danny looked at the door uneasily, shooting quick glances at his father. Danielle started bawling because she'd lost her food. The little green puppy barked. Seeing his sister's distress, Danny handed her his own plate. Realizing that he was also hungry, he tried to get a drumstick back. They started arguing.

_DING-DONG!_

"Oh, fine!"

The billionaire pushed away from the table, nearly toppling over his chair in the process. His outburst fortunately startled the children into silence. He stomped to the door, spotting one of the maids hiding behind a suit of armor. Why was he paying those useless idiots again?

He threw the doors open, ready to kill whoever it was that wanted to make his morning even worse.

The wall of orange on the porch looked startled, his hand halfway to the bell. He smiled widely as soon as he saw Vlad (who looked rather like he had swallowed a lemon), moving forward to try to wrap the billionaire in a hug.

"Vladdy!"

Vlad slammed the door in Jack Fenton's face. This was _not _his day.

* * *

**I know that that was short, mostly pointless, and basically consisted of a shitty day for Vlad. I'm sorry! **

**The next chapter is from another person's pov (probably Jack's) so this just had to stop here.**  
**I'll try to have chapter 10 up today! **

**R&R! Reviewers get Walker's Ecto-Rope-Shooting-Cane**

**Danielle cries a lot, doesn't she? Babies do that. Like my brother, who always wakes us up in the middle of the night because he's hungry. The brat.**


	10. Words without thought

**Okay.. This chapter isn't finished yet. It's only, like, half a chapter. Unfortunately, I'll be in a summer school program for the next couple of weeks or so... Eh, enjoy!**

* * *

_**My visitors, if they cannot see the clock, should find the time in my face -Ralph Waldo Emmerson**_

* * *

I drove up the road in silence, my mouth set in a thin line. Unfortunately, my thoughts were not as quiet.

It hadn't been too hard to get out of the house. Maddie was _furious _with me, and had taken steps to avoid me as much as possible. I think she actually said 'good riddance!' when I told her I was leaving... At first, I'd thought that her anger would wane as time went on, but it seemed as though the opposite happened. With each passing day since Danny's departure, she grew angrier and angrier. I knew that the rage was just to hide what she was really feeling, which was grief. What parent wouldn't, if their child was taken away?

I hated seeing her so miserable, and I understood why she was mad at me for practically giving her son away. Yet I also knew that it was absolutely necessary.

Since I was little, I'd always known that ghosts existed. They were everywhere; unseen, unheard, but you could feel the hairs on the back of your neck standing up when they were near. During my childhood, I'd never seen one manifest in a physical form as I saw them do years later. But I still knew they were there. Things got misplaced, something cold would run through me suddenly, laughter would ring out when no one was there. Ghosts did exist.

When I was older, I went to the University of Wisconsin. I'd met Vlad first and had immediately decided that we'd be best friends. He was a bit wary of me at first, then eventually we became real friends. I wish I knew when that friendship became so strained. I really hadn't noticed anything until the day he showed me his ghost powers.

We met Maddie afterwards. As soon as I saw her, I knew she was the one for me! She was gorgeous, witty and smart. She was everything a man could ask for. Then, as we grew closer, I discovered that she believed in ghosts too! It was a dream come true, I tell you- -I was practically on Cloud 9.

While we researched ghosts- -with Vlad humoring us in the background- -we came to the conclusion that ghosts were evil. They were manifestations of the dead, brought back only by their obsessions. When one said that the spirits of the dead lingered on earth because they had unfinished business, it was an understatement. Ghosts were brought back into the realm of the living because they were insanely obsessed with what ever they hadn't been able to settle before they died. Be it scorned lovers, hated rivals, or simply a love for cooking, you can be assured that ghosts will defend their obsessions with all their after-lives.

That was why they were so dangerous. Nothing else mattered to them other than that. They wouldn't hesitate to do anything, even kill humans if it meant reaching their goal.

Ghosts also had powers that no human could ever dream of having. They could disappear, pass through solid objects, and shoot lethal blasts with nary a thought. This was one reason why I couldn't let Maddie keep Danny. She couldn't teach her son to control these powers.

What we had always believed was that ghosts, though once human, were as different from us as they could get. I'd never thought of the possibility of hybrids. It was so absurd a thought, to mingle the two species. But if Danny really was part-ghost, then the only one to keep him from hurting himself and other humans was another hybrid. Maddie wouldn't be able to do that; not only did she still believe that ghosts were inherently evil (which would break her heart if she found out that her son was one), she couldn't possibly provide him with the education he needed.

I was cut off from my musings when I caught sight of the castle ahead. I blinked. Vlad really lived _there?_ Well, that was a far cry from our old college dormitories.

I rang the bell, fidgeting nervously when no one came to answer.

_DING-DONG!_

_DING-DONG!_

What if they weren't home after all?

_DING-DONG!_

The door slammed open. There stood my best friend, looking worse for wear. There were dark bags under his eyes and a shabby look that was uncommon on him. I could also see what looked like bruises blossoming under his collar.

"Vladdy!" I grinned.

He stared at me. Then he slammed the door shut.

"Vlad!" I cried, disappointed. "I just want to talk!"

I waited for a few minutes, hearing muffled curses through the thick oak. Eventually, the door creaked open.

"What."

I winced at both his tone and his haggard appearance. "Rough day?" I questioned.

"You have no idea." Vlad grumbled. "What do you want?"

"Uhh.. Can I come in?"

He looked like he was going to refuse with very colorful words, when two small heads popped up from behind him.

"Uncle Jack!" the boy rushed at me. I obligingly scooped him up into a hug, happy to see my not-son again.

"Danny! You've grown!" I laughed.

"Whozzat?"

I looked down to see a small girl, maybe two years Danny's junior, staring at me. She looked a lot like him, I observed. Did Vlad have more children? I didn't know why I was so surprised by this. Vlad was a rich, smooth-talking bachelor- -it made sense that he'd have had many women. Still, it was a very weird thought. To me, he would always be Vladdy, my brainy college buddy.

Danny grabbed the girl's hand and led her to me. "Danielle, this is Uncle Jack! He's a schien-tish- -that means he makes a lot of cool things!"

The girl, Danielle, stared at me with wide eyes. "Like Unca Skulker? Can he make toys?"

"That's enough children," Vlad cut in. "Jack was just leaving."

"Why?" Danny cried. "Uncle Jack just got here!"

"Stay, Unca Jack!" Danielle said, tugging on my gloved hand. "You make us toys like Unca Skulker!"

"Oh, well, um." I glanced at Vlad. "Your dad doesn't want me here."

The two immediately looked at him with large puppy dog eyes.

"PWEASE!"

I watched in amusement as two toddlers wore down the billionaire's resolve. Irritation gave away to fondness, though there was still a hint of tired annoyance on his face.

He muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath before giving in. "Fine! Jack can stay."

"YAY!"

"I loathe myself." Vlad grumbled, turning back to the foyer.

I trailed behind, chuckling silently.

* * *

**THAT was incredibly pointless...drabble...**

**It's also most likely the last update for a couple of weeks, so...**

**R&R Please!**

T**he more reviews I get, the more motivated I am. ;)**

* * *

**Dear reviewers:**

T**he crazy girl wasn't kidding about Walker.**

**Please put me out of my misery... With 80 reviews... in the next two** weeks...

**-Danny**

**T Alana M: IT'S NOT THAT BAD! PEOPLE LIKE THIS STORY!**

**Danny: I DON'T!**

**We're going to show up too! -Sam and Tucker**


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